Life sciences aim to elucidate the complex and delicate mechanisms of life phenomena carried out by living organisms. It is also a promising field that is expected to greatly contribute to enhancing the nation's lifestyle and socio-economic development by realizing enhancement in people's health and longevity, preventing infectious diseases such as novel influenza and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), as well as resolving food and environmental problems. MEXT works to advance the realization of regenerative medicine by supporting stem cell research including induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), basic research on the prevention and treatment of cancer and lifestyle-related diseases, brain science research aimed at analyzing the brain's functions and overcoming neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and dementia, and R&D for realizing genomic medicine. Moreover, MEXT works to advance foundations of analytical equipment, databases and bio-resources, which contribute to a wide variety of life science research. MEXT also formulates and administers laws and regulations in order to appropriately correspond to safety problems and life ethics issues associated with life science research.